Diana nominates Orange County's first medical examiner

Wednesday

Sep 26, 2007 at 2:00 AM

Chris McKenna

Goshen - Dr. Charles Catanese, a forensic pathologist who has worked for the New York City and Bergen County medical examiner’s offices, has been nominated to be Orange County’s first medical examiner, County Executive Edward Diana announced yesterday.Catenese will start work Oct. 15 if his nomination is approved by the county Legislature.His office is scheduled to start up Jan. 1, replacing the system of county coroners that has been used until now to investigate suspicious and accidental deaths.Catenese worked for New York City in its Brooklyn division for 10 years before switching to Bergen County in 2005. He started his own consulting business last year. He was one of four candidates interviewed for the Orange County job, out of eight who applied.Diana said Catenese, if approved, will work part time for two weeks and go full time Nov. 1, readying an office of six or seven employees with an expected budget of just under $1 million.The job pays $142,000 a year.About a third of the budget will be covered by the state, putting the cost to county taxpayers at roughly $100,000 above what they were paying under the coroner system, Diana said.